Rejoice in the Lord

YHWH. Jehovah God. The infinite, unchanging (Ja 1:17), omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent Creator. Matchless in beauty, infinite in wisdom and understanding (Ps 147:5), unwavering in truth. (Tit 1:2) He cannot learn; He cannot risk in hope: He knows.

Orion Nebula, Hubble

He inhabits eternity (Is 57:15), ever present in all places at every moment of time (2Pe 3:8), both within and beyond time and space, knowing all, pervading all, all powerful.

He made the stars (Ge 1:16), arranging them in countless, gigantic, spectacular galaxies, and calls them all by name (Ps 147:4) as they each uniquely proclaim His glory (Ps 19:1), His exquisite, eternal, infinite majesty. (Ps 96:6)

He is infinitely sovereign, in absolute control of everything all the time. (Da 4:35) He always works everything according to His own will. (Ep 1:11)

He’s relational, in Himself a flawless divine community (Ge 1:26), in perfect delight and harmony within Himself (Jn 17:5), needing nothing and no one (Ps 50:12), welcoming every sentient being to come to Him and enjoy Himself. (Re 22:17)

He’s created each of us uniquely in His own image (Ge 1:27) to express some nuance of the divine nature, giving us meaning, purpose and intrinsic value, loving us unconditionally (Jn 3:16) and individually. (Jn 13:1) Though we’re all born at enmity with Him (Ep 2:1), He’s reaching out to every one of us in the mystery of the gospel to reconcile us to Himself, regardless what we’ve thought or done. (2Co 5:19)

He has revealed Himself though perfect Law (Ps 19:7), a living expression of His love and justice (He 4:12) in the context of human brokenness (Mt 22:37-40), revealing and exposing as corrupt all that is contrary to His nature. (Ro 8:7)

He has also revealed Himself through His Son Jesus Christ, Himself the godhead incarnate. (Col 2:9) God Himself condescended to become one of His own creatures, one of us, to show us exactly what He’s like (Jn 14:9), willing to die for His enemies (Ro 5:10), enduring His own justice on our behalf, receiving us into His family and adopting us as His own (1Jn_3:1), if we would just be willing to receive Him. (Jn 1:12)

He’s perfectly just, no respecter of persons (Ac 10:34), and yet He’s infinitely merciful (Ps 103:17), benevolent and kind (Lk 6:35), even offering us the strength to obey Him if we’ll have it; He will never turn anyone away who’s diligently seeking Him (He 11:6), and will eternally terrify (2Co 5:11) all who won’t. (Mt 25:46)

He’s made many, many amazing promises (2Pe 1:4), and He’s never broken one. He’s perfectly faithful; He will never leave us nor forsake us. (He 13:5)

Regardless where I am, who I’m with, or what’s happening to me or around me, I can always rejoice in the eternal infinitude of God, beholding His beauty (Ps 27:4), feeding in His majesty, being delighted in, awed by and overcome with the perfection of His Way.

The almighty, eternal God repeatedly commands me to rejoice in Him, and to persist in this, always. (Php 4:4) He will have it no other way; He’s made me to exult in Him: enjoying God is the singular fuel of the human soul, joy unspeakable and full of glory. (1Pe 1:8)

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2 thoughts on “Rejoice in the Lord”

  1. Here is a video, “Joy Unspeakable,” containing an example of spontaneous dance in the midst of praise and worship. Though it reminds me of the kind of exuberance I’ve experienced in God at times, I can’t tell if this is Spirit-led or not.

    Perhaps it isn’t my place to evaluate it, but it simply reminds me of the “empty, flapping chaos” I reference in the underlying article, and which I observe in many charismatic circles. I find such expressions empty in that they’re devoid of sufficient substance and truth to promote any worship in myself, having at best scant mention of the holistic nature of God; and I find them chaotic in that they don’t help me distinguish between the righteous and the wicked in the midst of the expression.

    I struggle here because I have suffered immensely from those who appear to positively thrive on this kind of sentimentality and emotionalism, who even appear on such stages as performers, and yet who also seem to me to continually trample God’s ways underfoot with a seared conscience, who appear to hate God’s law with vehemence, who evidence absolutely no fear of God of any kind, and view any attempt to hold them accountable for their wickedness with open disdain and contempt.

  2. Tim,

    Nothing is easy, is it 🙂 — I recall a lady I used to judge in some ways as a young young man, so spirtual was I 🙂 — then I heard a testimony when I was a much older older man; how she was sexually molested by her dad from the age of 8 to 14. She became a Christian somewhere about 10-11. She alluded to the fact that she may have prayed for her dad to die. She talked about the Lord saving her out of the furnace of affliction. Tears welling up as I write — when her dad was older and sick she took him into her house, her n her husband. She nursed him. She led him to Christ before he died. And I saw a depth of forgiveness, and decided, I should put aside the judging a young “spiritual” man might do in his heart — Lord forgive me — and simply rejoice in what HE did inside my sister. That’s the nice thing about living many years, lots of time for correction to find it’s way to you 🙂

    stephen

    ps – I have no comprehension of being molested from 8 to 14. No comprehension. The furnace of affliction she called it. [Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.]

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